


Baking Lesson

by myblueworld



Category: Football RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-16
Updated: 2017-01-16
Packaged: 2018-09-17 19:54:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9340811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myblueworld/pseuds/myblueworld
Summary: Kevin gives a baking lesson to Raheem.





	

When Raheem takes a seat right next to him in the cafeteria, Kevin hopes that his smile is not too wide. Raheem’s smile is just so bright and infectious; it’s almost impossible not to smile too. But the thing is, when he sees Raheem, Kevin can feel that he’s not only smiling. He can feel that he’s also blushing. 

“What do you have there?” Raheem points at the food on Kevin’s plate with the fork on his hand. Without waiting for Kevin to answer him, he already takes some of it with his fork, and eats it.

“Potato,” Raheem says, and continues chewing for a second. “This is good!” he says again, and takes some more from Kevin’s plate.

“Hey! Get your own!” Kevin flicks Raheem’s hand. Raheem only glances at him and grins

“Any plan for tonight, mate?” Raheem asks, starting to eat his own food.

Kevin shakes his head a little. “Nope. How about you?”

Raheem shrugs his shoulder. “Nothing in particular.”

“Oh.”

Raheem takes another bite of something that looks like a piece of chicken from his fork. He turns his head to look at Kevin.

“Hey, wanna hang out or something?”

Kevin’s heart beating suddenly gets faster than usual. Kevin takes his glass, and drinks from it.

“Where to?” he says, still not trusting himself to look at Raheem.

Raheem shrugs his shoulder again. “Anywhere you want to. Movie. Eating out. Anything.”

Kevin gulps. “I don’t know… I just… kind of tired?” Kevin says, sounds as unsure as his own thought. Kevin is naturally someone who doesn’t really like being in the middle of lots of people. It’s something that drains his energy. But at the same time, it’s Raheem that asks him to go out. It means he can spend more time with Raheem. It means that he can see Raheem for a little bit longer.

Then much to his surprise, Raheem shrugs one of his shoulders and says, “We can hang out in your place.”

“My place???” Kevin almost chokes on nothing. He stares at Raheem who’s still eating.

Raheem turns his head to look at Kevin, and an amused smile spreads on his face.

“Yeah, we can do that, can’t we?”

“What… What are we going to do in my place?” Because really, Kevin is totally clueless about hanging out in his own place.

Raheem shrugs his shoulder again. “We can watch a movie, you have a TV set right?”

“I don’t have popcorn.” Kevin says, making up reason.

Whatever kind of look that Kevin has now, it seems to only encourage Raheem to be more insistent about his idea.

“We can buy it in a store.” Raheem says.

“But…” Kevin nervously runs his finger through his hair. Then he sees Raheem’s eyes, glinting with something that makes his heart skip a beat. He sighs.

“What movie do you have in mind?” he asks, knowing that at the end of the day, he could never say no to Raheem anyway.

The corners of Raheem’s lips tug higher. “Cool!”

Seeing the way Raheem’s face light up, Kevin starts to think that maybe, it’s not a bad idea at all.

“So,” Kevin reaches out for the yogurt in front of his plate. “What movie?”

Raheem chews his lower lip, thinking. “I don’t know, man. Fast and Furious, maybe? Or maybe we can do a Star Wars movie marathon?”

“What are you boys talking about?” Aleks asks as he puts his tray on the table, and sits on the chair in front of them.

Raheem turns to look at Aleks.

“Hey, we’re heading to Kevin’s place after training today to watch a movie. Do you have any recommendation?”

Without really knowing why, the tip of Kevin’s ear suddenly feels warmer as Raheem tells Aleks about their plan. Trying to look as calm as possible, Kevin starts eating his yogurt. From the corner of his eyes, he can still see how Aleks flashes a glance at him. A small mischievous smile is dangerously playing on his lips.

“You know what, Raheem?” Aleks starts cutting the steak on his plate into smaller pieces. In front of him, Raheem tilts his head a little, looking at Aleks with interest. Kevin starts to feel that whatever Aleks is going to say, he doubts that he will like it.

“Kevin likes baking, right? So, since you two are going to Kevin’s place, why don’t you ask him to teach you how to bake something?”

This time Kevin really chokes on his yogurt. Raheem, on the contrary, seems to like the idea. Very much.

He turns to look at Kevin, who’s still coughing a little. “Hey, Kev! That is actually a good idea! You should teach me how to bake! You now, cookies and cakes and stuff?”

Kevin’s eyes widened as he stares in disbelief at Raheem. “You must be joking…”

Raheem shakes his head a little. “No! Seriously! I never bake anything before. Must be fun, Kev!”

Kevin cringes and scratches the back of his ear. “I don’t know, man…”

“Oh, come on, Kev… Why not? You do like baking, right? I still remember that time when you brought that cake? It’s so. Damn. Good.”

Something flutter inside Kevin. He turns his neck a little to look at Aleks again, giving him a glare. Aleks is enjoying his meal, not even looking at them. But Kevin doesn’t fail to notice a small smirk on his lips.

“Kev?” Raheem starts pulling the sleeve of Kevin’s shirt. He looks at Kevin, almost like he is pouting. “C’mon, Kev… It would be really really fun. Please?”

Again, there is a look in Raheem’s eyes. Something that makes Kevin cannot say no.

He takes a deep breath, and lets it out in a long sigh.

“Okay… Okay…” he says. Even when he says the words, it’s still hard for him to believe it.

A wide smile quickly takes over Raheem’s face.

“Awesome!” he slaps Kevin’s shoulder lightly. He looks at Aleks, and grins at him.

“Hey, you want us to save some for you?”

Aleks raises one of his eyebrows, then he nods. “Sure. Bring some tomorrow.”

Raheem turns his attention back at Kevin.

“So, do we need to stop by at a store, Kev? You know, to buy eggs, flour and stuff?”

 

* * *

 

Raheem looks around while Kevin closes the door.

“You got a nice place, Kev!” Raheem says. He walks to the couch, and throws himself there. “Okay, where’s the kitchen?” he asks, turning his upper body to look at Kevin.

“You…uhmmm..” Kevin rubs his nose a little. “You really want to start now?”

“Yeah! I am excited about this.” Raheem stands up again, and walks towards Kevin. He slings his arm on Kevin’s shoulder, and half-drags Kevin to walk with him.

“It’s gonna be fun, right?” he says again, a big smile on his face.

Kevin looks at that smile, and there is something strange flutters in his stomach. He returns Raheem’s smile.

“Yeah, gonna be fun.” He says, and walks with Raheem to the kitchen.

Once they enter the kitchen, Raheem makes his way to the kitchen island. Kevin walks to one of cabinets where he keeps his recipe books.

“Man, this is so cool!” Raheem says with awe “Your kitchen looks like one of those cooking shows, y’know?”.

Kevin lifts his head up from the book that he’s looking at. He flashes a smile at Raheem, and continues flipping the pages of the book.

Raheem walks closer to Kevin, and stands right next to him. He clasps Kevin’s shoulder.

“So, what are we making today, Kev?”

With his eyes still scanning the pages, Kevin asks him back, “What do you want to make?”

Raheem shrugs his shoulders. “Anything. Something simple enough for someone who never bakes before.”

“What about cookies? It’s easier than baking a cake.”

“Oh, I love cookies! Can we make the chocolate ones?”

Kevin gives a side glance at Raheem. Raheem’s eyes glint with excitement, and it makes Kevin smile.

“Yeah. Sure. We can do that.”

Kevin goes to the page that listing the recipes in the book. His index finger moves along the recipes, and stops in a recipe named Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Next to him, Raheem whistles. “Ooohhh… That one sounds good!”

Kevin goes to that page, and skims the recipe. A few second later, he nods. “This one looks simple enough.”

“Cool! Come on!” Raheem walks, half-hopping, back to the kitchen island. “Do I get to wear that cute…What’s its name? Things that you wear so your clothes don’t get dirty when you’re cooking?”

Kevin is now standing in front of the refrigerator. He takes out two eggs and a can of butter, and walks to the kitchen island.

“You mean apron? Naaahhh… Except if you are worse than a 5-year kid,” Kevin says, as he places the eggs and butter on the counter.

“Aww… Man… Why?” Raheem reaches out for the eggs. “Should I crack these?”

Kevin is opening another cabinets, taking out some bowls. He turns his neck to look at Raheem.

“No. Not yet. You have to wait until they’re at the room temperature.”

“What? I have to wait?” Raheem sounds half-confused, half-disappointed.

“Uh huh,” Kevin hums. “While waiting, you can clean these.”

He hands in the mixing bowls and a roll of paper towel to Raheem. “Make sure that they are completely clean and dry.”

“Dude, that’s boring,” Raheem says, but takes one of the bowls and starts wiping them.

“Yes, but it is important.” Kevin says. He stands in front of other cabinets where he keeps his supply of baking ingredients. With the recipe book in his hand, he takes out the ingredients needed.

He places the stuffs on the kitchen island, and gets the measuring cups and a scale from another cabinet.

“What should we do now?” Raheem asks, putting the last bowl that he cleans to the counter.

“Weighing the ingredients.”

“Oh, I can do that! Lemme do that!” Raheem takes the scale, and starts playing with the buttons. He looks at Kevin, with a grin on his face. “Which one that I should weight?”

“The butter,” Kevin says, and watches as Raheem picks the butter. “One hundred and fifty grams.”

Raheem nods, and puts some butter on the scale. Kevin can see the tip of Raheem’s tongue as he chews it between his teeth, full with concentration.

“There!” Raheem turns to look at Kevin, seeking for approval. There is a proud grin on his lips.

Kevin leans his body to have a closer look at the scale. Squinting his eyes a little, he checks the digital number on the scale. He shakes his head as he straightens his back.

“Nope. You have one hundred fifty-five grams there. You’re off by 5 grams.”

“What? Man, it’s only five grams!”

Kevin shakes his head. “Take five grams out of it, then put it in this bowl,” Kevin says, pushing a mixing bowl closer to Raheem.

Raheem makes a grunting noise a little. “What difference can 5 grams make, anyway?” he asks, almost mumbling.

“It can make a difference. Like an additional 1 minute at the end of a game? A lot of time those sixty seconds can really make a difference, right?”

Raheem turns his neck, and stares at Kevin. A smile starts spread on his face. He gives a small nod.

“Yeah. You’re right, Kevin. It really can make a difference.”

It’s a different kind of smile, the one that Kevin is staring at now. It’s not that bright cheerful smile that Raheem usually has. This one, this one is a softer, more gentle smile. Something much more affectionate.

“Kevin?”

Kevin blinks, realizing that he has stared at Raheem for a little too long.

“What else now?”

“Uhm…” Kevin clears his throat a little. “The sugar. Eighty grams of it.”

“Exactly eighty?” Raheem asks. There is a small teasing smile on his lips.

“Yeah…yeah… Exactly eighty…” Kevin says. “And then put it in the same bowl as the butter.”

Raheem does as what he says, while Kevin flips the pages of the recipe book without really reading it.

“Do you always do all the measuring exactly as the recipe?”

“Uh huh,” Kevin hums a little. He flashes a glance at Raheem, then starts reading a recipe. “You know what they say about the difference between cooking and baking?”

“What?”

“Cooking is an art, and baking is a science.”

Raheem puts the sugar into the bowl, and stares at Kevin. There is curiosity in his eyes.

“Which means?”

“When you’re cooking,” Kevin flips the book to another page. “You can do it according to your taste. You can go from a basic recipe, and modify it as you wish. It's more about...your taste,” Kevin pauses. "You know,like...when you are drawing something for your art class? You don't really have to do it exactly the same with the others, right?" He turns to look at Raheem. He’s a little surprised to see how Raheem is looking at him, looking interested.

“And what about baking, then?”

“When baking,” Kevin licks his lower lip. “You need to follow the instruction correctly, to have the best result. If you double one of the ingredients, you have to do exactly the same with the other ingredients. Just like when you're doing a science experiment.”

“Hmmm… Make sense,” Raheem nods.

Kevin doesn’t know why, but his heart beats a little bit faster. He looks back at the book. “Anyway,” he says, and clears his throat again. “You can beat the sugar and butter now.”

For the next thirty minutes, basically it’s Raheem who does everything. He doesn’t let Kevin do anything but giving instruction to him. The only thing that Kevin does is only heating the oven.

“There,” Raheem says proudly, as he places another small mound of the mixture on the baking tray.

“We can put it in the oven now, rite?”

“Yeah,” Kevin says. He watches, a bit amused, as Raheem walks to the oven, opens it and slides the tray into it.

“Hey, Kev! How long should we bake it?”

“Ten minutes should be fine.”

Raheem nods, and pushes some button. He walks back to the kitchen island, and grabs the bowl. With his index finger, Raheem takes a scrap from the small amount of mixture left in the bowl, and licks it.

“Hey! This is actually good!” he says, beaming a smile at Kevin. “Here, try it!”

He takes another scrap on his finger, and waves it at Kevin.

“What? Eww… Raheem, there’s no way I lick your finger,” Kevin scrunches his nose.

“No? Oh well…” Raheem licks his finger again. He scans around the kitchen island, then grabs a small spoon that he used to measure the sugar. Now using the spoon, he scraps the mixture, and stretches his hand towards Kevin. He waves the spoon lightly in front of Kevin’s mouth.

“C’mon, Kev! I’ve been working so hard making this, you can’t break my heart by not trying it.”

Kevin tries to glare at him. But Raheem puts an innocent expression on his face.

“Please?”

Kevin sighs. He rolls his eyes, but leans a little, taking the spoon into his mouth. He straightens his back, licking his lips, tasting the mixture on his lips and tongue. Raheem looks at him with expectation, almost like a child waiting to be complimented for their craft.

“Is it good?”

The way Raheem looks at him, eyes wide and lips half-parted, it makes Kevin curls up his lips into small smile.

“Yeah,” he nods. “It’s pretty good.”

Raheem beams a proud grin, almost a smug one.

“We still have to wait for the actual cookies that are still in the oven, though,” Kevin quickly adds.

“But I did well, right?”

Kevin chuckles a little. A smile lingers on his lips as he nods.  “Yeah, Raheem. You did pretty well.”

 

* * *

 

Kevin is only a few steps away from the door to the changing room when Aleks walks out. Aleks waves a little at him.

“So, you’ve been a good teacher, yes?”

Kevin freezes. He blinks. And then he stares at Aleks with bemusement.

“What do you mean?”

Aleks walks towards him and claps his shoulder.

“The cookies are really good. Thanks for giving that kid a baking lesson, Kev.”

Kevin inhales sharply. In a second, he can feel the rushing of heat running quickly from the tip of his ears to his neck. Aleks walks away, leaving a stunned Kevin.

Kevin lets out a breath, and shakes his head a little. He continues walking to the changing room.

The first thing that he sees once he enters the changing room, is Raheem, standing in front of David and Sergio. Raheem is holding a small plastic container that Kevin recognizes as the one that Raheem borrowed from him yesterday. He watches as Sergio takes out a cookie from the container, while David is looking at Sergio. There is a small amused smile on David’s lips. Sergio bites the cookie, and then he nods excitedly. He says something to Raheem that Kevin can’t really hear, then takes another bite.

Kevin is still looking at them in daze when Raheem turns his neck, and sees him.

“Kev!” Raheem waves at him. That bright wide smile in on his face as he lifts up the container that he’s holding a little bit higher.

“The lads like it!”

Sergio turns his head to look at Kevin too, and grins. “Yes! The cookie? Is good! Very good!”

As if he wants to convince Kevin, he takes another bite of the cookie, and chews it. In a way that only Sergio can do it, his grin doesn’t fall of his lips while he’s chewing it.

“We should do this again! How about next week?” Raheem says.

Kevin sighs, and rubs his face with both hands. Then he stares back at Raheem, and smiles.

“Yeah. I guess we can have another baking lesson next week.”


End file.
